CulturePOP - Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters on ACT-I-VATE.com

The second installment of my webcomic, CulturePOP: "Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters" is up live. This week's features graffiti artist/sculptor Carlos 'Mare 139' Rodriguez.
See it HERE.

CBDLF website

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund just launched their new website, designed by Charlie Orr and featuring my photos.

The concept Charlie and and CBDLF Executive Director Charles Brownstein had was to use my cartoonist portraits to give a face to the organization," Seth says. "The photo (with a quote from each artist), located in the upper right corner of the main page, changes when you refresh the page.

Currently, there are several cartoonist photos being rotated on the site, including Paul Pope, Dean Haspiel, Neil Gaiman, Molly Crabapple, Ben Templesmith and more. A roll-out of more images is planned in a few months.

Go to cbldf.org and help support a good cause

MoCCA Fest photos

I spent last weekend at the Mocca Fest and with exclusive access, took the portraits below. Thanks to Jeff Newelt and Brian Heater.

The panelists of The Art of the Superhero: When Singular Vision Meets Popular Mythology, which gathered these iconic cartoonists,

From L to R: Paul Pope, Dean Haspiel, Frank Miller, Moderator Jeff Newelt, Kyle Baker and Jaime Hernandez

Dean Haspiel and Frank Miller

Jaime Hernandez

Chip Kidd

David Mazzucchelli

Bill Ayers

Tom Hart

Josh Neufeld

Ward Sutton

See the full posting at GRAPHIC NYC.

Seth Kushner's CulturePOP: "Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters" launches at ACT-I-VATE today

CulturePOP: "Photocomix Profiles of Real-Life Characters."

New profiles every Monday, starting 4/12 on ACT-I-VATE.com

Seth Kushner loves comics and loves taking photos of interesting people. Over the past year, Seth began experimenting with combining the two passions, in the form of photocomix, AKA fumetti, first popularized in the U.S. with Harvey Kurtzman's Help and later in Robert Crumb's Weirdo. In those cases the photocomix were played for laughs, but Seth's doing something different: a fusion of photojournalism, personality profile, and comix. His first photocomix profile was of Harvey Pekar, for GRAPHIC NYC, the comics journalism site he co-edits, and the reception was so positive it set Seth to concocting an ongoing photocomix project.

"What Seth achieved with that Pekar interview-cum-comic was a triumph," said Jeff Newelt, Harvey's editor on The Pekar Project. "He took key moments of an interview, matched the words with photos he took, and sequentially arranged the results so as to read as smoothly as an American Splendor comic. I work with four artists who masterfully illustrate Pekar's words, and I was dumfounded by how much Seth's experiment succeeded."

"Seth Kushner's omniscient lens distills NYC's brave and bold into graphic time capsules," says Dean Haspiel, creator of Billy Dogma, & The Alcoholic.

With Culture POP, Seth's shines his flash on the lives of subjects including poet Caits Meissner, sousaphonist/producer Clark Gayton, singer/songwriter Elyssa Loveless, designer John D'Aponte, graffiti artist/sculptor Carlos "Mare 139" Rodriguez, yoga instructor Melisa Winitzsky, former US champion rhythmic gymnast Olga Karmansky, toy designer Super Sucklord, author Douglass Rushkoff, VJ Jonny Wilson of Eclectic Method, artist Jen Ferguson and more TBA.

CulturePOP is co-curated by Jeff Newelt, and edited by Dean Haspiel.

Seth Kushner — shoots portraits of celebrity-types for such publications The New York Times Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Businessweek, L'Uomo Vogue and others. Seth's first book, The Brooklynites, (with Anthony LaSala) was published by powerHouse Books in 2007 and was) considered ”a terrific coffee table photo/interview book” by The New York Times. Currently, he's co-editing the comics journalism site Graphic NYC (www.NYCGraphicNovelists.com) with Christopher Irving and working on his next book on comic book creators. Seth first comics work was Schmuck, with artist Kevin Colden and can be seen on ACT-I-VATE.com

See it at ACT-I-VATE.

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Poet Caits Meissner releases her second EP, The Wolf & Me, May 1, 2010

I recently collaborated with poet Caits Meissner on two projects. The first of them was for the cover and packaging of her new album, The Wolf & Me. See info below.
For the photo, Caits wanted to somehow combine herself with the idea of the wolf. A few different ideas were bandied about, but in the end Caits, a graphic designer herself, went with the treatment seen below on my portrait of her.

Our other collaboration was for my project, CulturePOP, which will be formally announced later this week.



Poet Caits Meissner releases her second EP, The Wolf & Me, May 1, 2010

Executive Produced by Just Plain Ant; featuring Maya Azucena, Jesse Boykins III, Dunce Apprentice and Broke MC; with production by Blu, Cazeaux OSLO, Just Plain Ant, Bisco Smith, Cave and The Aftermath.

Caits Meissner, well-known for her writing in respected poetry circles, and work as an educator/community organizer in youth circles, now steps out with a fantastic music project. Embedded in and influenced by the experimental hip hop community, Caits’ songs are word-driven vignettes delving deep into the heart of human experience: loneliness, inspiration, love and loss set over visually lush landscapes from current hip hop/electronic producers.

In regards to her past work, Erykah Badu calls her “fresh, honest and loving… a delicate heart like mine.” Doodlebug of Digable Planets describes her as “melodic words of wisdom… streetjazzoetry.” This round, surprising her fans by singing at times in her honest and edgy tone, Caits reveals the soulful songwriter beneath her poems. Something precious, her words beat like a full heart without false bravado, a seeking for something beyond, a prayer. The Wolf & Me is something that will linger in your soul.

The Wolf & Me is a multi-platform project, inspired by classic elements of the vinyl era, which includes a PDF download of the lyrics designed by Caits (who also holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Pratt Institute), art directed by designer Tishon Woolcock and shot by renowned photographer Seth Kushner. London-based poet Warsan Shire contributes her words, reviving the lost of art of liner notes. According to Caits, The Wolf & Me aims to be “a multi-sensory journey, the kind of album you listen to under headphones, in the dark hours of the early morning.” She hopes the words bring you alive.

Caits has a substantial background in performance poetry but recently transitioned into working with music, most notably with German producers Comfort Fit and Portformat on the Tokyo Dawn record label. Originally from Albany, NY, she has been Brooklyn-based for the past eight years. Caits studied in Africa under Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa, and building off such legacies as Gil Scott-Heron, works to create a musical experience rooted in storytelling.

Download the new single, “Blackest Blood” from the forthcoming project at
www.thewolfandme.com or www.caitsmeissner.com

GRAPHIC NYC in Italy's #1 newspaper

This past weekend, D-La Repubblica delle donne (The weekend supplement of Italy's #1 newspaper) featured a great nine-page feature story by reporter Anna Lombardi on the NYC comics scene. The story features 13 of my portraits from the GRAPHIC NYC project.
The article describes Christopher Irving and me as the journalist and the photographer who are documenting the history of comics in NYC.

Graphic Novelists - Day 60

A midtown pub was the location for Ben Templesmith's portrait. The Australian born artist is best known for his painterly style as seen in such books as Fell, Wormwood, Groom Lake and 30 Days of Night.





Ben's latest series, Choker is a collaboration with writer Ben McCool.


Please be sure to check out the full GRAPHIC NYC profile on Ben.

Graphic NYC site update

Back in November of 2004, I had the opportunity to meet and photograph the guy I wanted to be when I grew up, Mark Hamill. My seven-year old self would not believe that my thirty-year old self would get to meet Luke Skywalker, but, I did, and it changed my life.

Check out my article, How Meeting Mark Hamill in a Comic Book Stor Changed My Life, and see accompanying photos below.

CulturePOP preview

In the photos below, you'll find; a Tuba player, a singer/songwriter, a poet, a yoga instructor and a designer with a crazy moustache - what do these five people have in common?
They are all subjects in a new series I've been working on called, CulturePOP.

What is CulturePOP? Well, that's somewhat complicated to explain, but for now, let me just say that it's a project I'm extremely excited about and it's something that combines all of my interests. More soon.

Graphic NYC site update

This past Tuesday, we posted a GRAPHIC NYC profile on the great Will Eisner. Unfortunately, Mr. Eisner died long before I started this project, so I never had the opportunity to photograph him. So, to illustrated the piece I came up with the photo-illustration below.
Also, be sure to check out the full piece.

Graphic Novelists - Day 59

Christopher and I were recently lucky enough to have grabbed up comics scholar Scott McCloud while he was in town to research his latest book.
Scott is best know for his work Zot! and for his three excellent and essential books on comics theory; Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics.

Being a fan of Scott's work for years, I immediately had a concept for the photo, and thankfully he was game. In his three "Comics" books, Scott breaks down how comics work, are created and are read, and he (or rather, his cartoon avatar) does it though - among other things - charts, diagrams, schematics, etc. Scott, who I see as comic's ultimate professor, spent over 45 minutes drawing the comics theory pieces seen on the blackboard in the photos below and it was far better than I even envisioned.
Thanks to the gang at XOXO studios for the use of their space and blackboard.

Check out the full GRAPHIC NYC profile, posted this week.

Graphic NYC site update

The GRAPHIC NYC site was updated recently with a piece I edited and provided photo for on writer Ben McCool. Having originally met Ben, a known frequenter of bars, in a bar and, since I did the shoot in a bar, I decided that instead of asking him the typical questions about his new Image Comics series, Choker, (with Ben Templesmith) I'd ask him to share his best bar story. And, boy, did Ben deliver a good one!
Read the outrageous piece and see my photos below.

Heads Up Display music video

I've posted a few times about the latest music video directed by myself and Carlos Molina, Formula Vs. Perfume, by Heads Up Display. I'm happy to report that it's finally done and available for you viewing pleasure.

Formula VS. Perfume by Heads Up Display from Carlos Molina on Vimeo.

Carlos and I have worked on a few videos now and every artist offers a different collaborative process. The guys in Heads Up Display, Josh Dillard, Kevin Colden and Steve Pellegrino were dream collaborators. Cartoonist Kevin, provided full story boards, laying out exactly what the band was looking for in the video. Josh, who used to work at the Sesame Workshop, custom built our stars (the puppets) by hand. Together, the guys provided us with a great song for inspiration.
For our part, we added our own aesthetic to the bands ideas, tweaked some of the concepts, and hopefully brought the concept to life in a way that did the band justice.
Carlos and I feel this video is the result of a successful collaboration, where everything came together just right. We hope viewers enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Graphic NYC site update

Continuing our theme weeks, this week GRAPHIC NYC is honoring comics legend Jack Kirby with a week of content.
Mr. Kirby died long before I ever began my project, so I never had the honor of photographing him. I think I came up with a creative solution. See below.

Graphic NYC site update

Today GRAPHIC NYC features a profile of Brian Michael Bendis. Brian is one of my favorite comics creators, so I'm very pleased to have him on the site.



Also I recently wrote an article called Enjoy the Silence, on the infamous silent issue of G.I. Joe from 1983. When I was 10, it so annoyed me that I wrote a letter of complaint and that was published in the comic a few months later. I recently revisited the issue and met the original writer/artist, Larry Hama. I think it's a fun piece to read. It was to write anyway.


Also, next week is Kirby Week on the site, a tribute to comics legend Jack Kirby. I'm quite pleased with the teaser I designed.